Power-transmission mechanism.



W. G. CLIFTON.

POWER TRANSMISSION MBGHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED D'EO. Z, ,1907. 929,556,q y Y 1 Patented July 27.1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

W fff@ W. G. CLIFTON.

POWER TRANSMISSION MBGHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED 11110.23, 1907.

Patented 'July 27, 1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET Z.

power UNITED PATENT oEErOE.

POWER-TRANSMISSION MECHANISM.

To all whom it ma, concern.' v

Be it known t iat I, W1LL'LAM'- GEoEGE CLIFTON, engineer, a subject of the Kingl of England, and residing at 35 Stavordale road Highbury, London, England, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Power-Transmission Mechanism, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, and for which Ihave a pliedfor Letters Patent in Great Britain, o. 27,939, dated December 7, 1906. i

This invention relates to improvements in transmission mechanism, and is particularly applicable to clutches in which the workingiiuid is arranged to resist the relative motion lof two .or more moving parts when power is to be transmitted, and to be trapped absolutely between the said parts when the transmission is to be effected without slipping. Such an ap aratus is known in which the liquid is forced) by means of pis tons through cocks of which the ening is variable at By the manipulation of these cocks the resistance offered by the liquid to the motion of the pistonsma'y be increased to any desired extent, and inthe inal position whenthe cocks are closed, the imprisoned liquid is designed to prevent an further movement ofthe pistons within their cylinders so that the transmission of power ma take place without loss.' 1 t is found in practice in connection with hydraulic clutches of this class, especially when they are employed on high speed driving shafts (as for instance upon automobile' vehicles) that although the engagement and driving under load, are extremely satisfactory, yet when the clutch is inthe nominally free osition there is a marked tendencyl for-the riven shaftjto continue its rotation;

. This is more noticeable when the load is reif leased from this shaft simultaneously with the movement to the free position. Such a l case occurs, for ex`amp1e,jin the changing of gear upon an automobile vehicle; in this case it is very desirable that the vdriven shaft should be absolutely disconnected from-the source of power in order that the. change may be eiected without inconvenience.

The present invention relates to an improvement in the construction of hydraulic `clutches of this class for the purpose ofrediicing this tendency to contmuedrotation after the withdrawal of the clutch.

"The invention consists of the introduction Speoioation of Letters Patent. Application med December 2, i907. Serial Nb. 404682.

,bearing centraloi the flywheel.

iatentea July 27,' 1909.

Vconnected with one set of the moving parts' of which the relative movement 1s to be obstructed. The other set of moving parts 1s as usual carried by or connected with one of the extreme members, e. g. the driver. This intermediate member is connected to both the driver and the follower by suitable gearing, in such a manner that .it revolves at a speed which is a convenient mean oi the speeds of the extreme members. By this arrangement the relative speed of the two sets of` movin parts is reduced so that the resistance of he liquidi-.when the clutch is in the free position isdiminished. In the driving position, since the lock is designed to be arsolute, no slipping vof the clutch takes p ace.

The invention is hereafter described with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which Y Figure 1 is a central sectional elevation of a clutch of the type described, to which the present invention has been ap lied. Fig. 2 is an end view with the cover p ate removed, the left half being in part section. Fig. 3 is a section on a smaller scale of a modified form :of valve and operating means. Fig. 4 is a i sectional plan of the modified valve.

The iiywheel or driver a carries a number of radial cylinders b b b integral therewith,

purpose in the drawings a common central chamber a', the pistons being of the trunk type. The pistons d are operated through connecting rods g from a crank pin e placed eccentrically of the axis of the flywheel a, The driven shaft or followerf eters the casing through a stuffing boxr and carries a gear wheel h forming-the sun wheel o f an epicyclic train. The planet wheels'i t are mounted upon a spider l which runs freely upon an extension f of the driven shaftf and carries the -crankpin e operating the pistons aforesaid. v

crankpin may be provided with a crank web and anaxle e which revolves freely rin a /Aninternal 'gear wheel m meshing. withthe planet inions i itself.

. The casi-ng aorded. by `the driver/and inclosing the cylinders p b and other parts as well as the system of gearing h ifm. 1swholly of. an intermediate member to carry or be 'i is rigidly secured to the lflyw eel The other extremity of the Or in part iilledv with oil-or other suitable I third or one-fourth ing the intermediate member in the liquid; and means are piivided for simultaneously opening or 'closing the cocks, so as to allow or to prevent relative movement of the.pistons within their cylinders, for example the levers n fulcrumed at o to the casing, the one end of said levers being connected by s p to a collar g sliding on the stuiiing box r and the other end of said lever acting in a slot x of the stem a; of valve c. Aspring s maintains the levers n in such a position that' anda forked operating` lever t engages this collar so the valves are closed,

that the latter may b In vided with a stem x having an adjustable cap y bearing against the operating disk y. Valve c is a multiple-ported piston valve sliding in a cylindrical seating z screwed into the ilywheel a. A spring z presses the valve into the closed position and a hollow screw u centers the said spring. Ports z are shown in the valve c and assages vare provided to allow ofthe flow of 'quid through the valve. The valve carries a packing ring z3 which is retained in lace by the screw lu..

It will be seen that w en the cocks are entirely closed, relative motion is prevented between two members of the epicyclic train. The whole therefore rotates as one piece and the motion of the driver is transmitted directly to the sun gearwheel and so to the follower without slip. In the 'free position, when the follower 1s stationary, the driver e slid along-its support.

and the intermediate member revolve in the same direction at different speeds, according to the proportions given to the caring. The difference in speed may be ha oneof the speed of the driver, or any other suitable fraction. Then since the resistance of the liquid will vary approXimately as the square of its speed of displacement the tendenc of the intermediate member carrying t e secondy set of moving parts to participate in the motion will be reduced to one-fourth, one-ninth or one-sixteenth respectively of the tendency of the second set of moving parts in the case of a clutch of the usual construction. According to the above ratios for the e icyclic gear, t e torque experienced by the ollower be still further reduced from that affectproportion of one-half, one-third or one-fourth. The torque upon the following shaft will therefore Vbe reduced to one-eighth, onetwenty-seventh, or one sixty-fourth of that 1n a similar clutch of the usual design. By sultably designing these proportionswY it becomes therefore an eas eat freedom as may e desired for ,the folower in the non-drivin position.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as such and desire to 'secure by Letters Patent is:`

1. A power transmission mechanism, com- Figs. 3 and 4 the valve c is shown prQ- said members, and

provided with one matter to obtain as prising hydraulic cushioning means, driving and driven members, and a member rotating 'at a definite intermediate speed and connected to one of the said members by the hydraulic cushioning means.

2. A ower transmission mechanism comprising ydraulic cushioning means, driving and driven members, and a member rotatingat a definite intermediate speed and connected to said driving member by the said hydraulic cushioning means. 3. A ower transmission mechanism, comprising hydraulic` cushioning means, having two sets of moving parts, driving and driven members of said clutch, one of said sets of moving parts being provided upon one of a member provided with the other of said sets and rotating 4at a dene nite and intermediate speed.

.4. A o Wer transmission mechanism, comprising ydraulic cushioning' means, having two sets of moving parts, driving and driven members of said clutch, one of said sets of moving parts being provided upon one of said members, Aand an intermediate member provided with the other of said sets, and a gearing connecting said intermediate memer with the driving and driven members.

5. A ower transmission mechanism, comprising ydraulic cushioning means, having two sets of moving parts, a driving member provided with one 4of said sets, a driven member and mem ers provided with thc other of said sets of ing at a definite intermediate speed.

6.. A ower transmission mechanism, comprising ydraulic cushioning means, having two sets of moving parts, a driving member provided with one of said sets, a driven member, an intermediate member, and gearing connecting the intermediate member to both the driving and driven members.

7. A ower transmission mechanism, comprising ydraulic cushioning means,.ha'vin two sets of moving parts, a driving iiywhee provided with one of' sa'id sets, a driven shaft, and a member of said sets and rotatln at a s eed intermediate between said ii eel an said shaft.

' 8. -A plower transmission mechanism, comprising ydraulic cushioning means havinr two sets of moving parts, a driving liywhee of said sets, a .driven shaft, an lntermediate member provided with the other of said sets, and caring connecting the intermediate mem er to both s aid flywheel and said shaft.

9. A ower transmission mechanism, comprising ydraulic cushioning means havin two sets of moving provided with one parts, a driving ilywhee of said sets, a gea}wheel u l gear w eel upon said shaft, an intermediate member provided with the other of said sets, and gear wheels upon said intermediate member moving parts and rotat-- provided With the other meshing with said ear wheelsfupon said flywheel and said sha t.

10. A power transmission .mechanism, comprising hydraulic cushioning means hav. ing two sets of rn'ovigfparts, a driving flywheel provided with one of said sets, an internal gear wheel upon said flywheel, .a driven shaft, a sun gearwheel upon said shaft, an intermediate member provided with the other of said sets, and epicyclic pinions upon said intermediate member meshing -with said internal gearwheel and said sun gearwheel.

11. A power transmission mechanism, comprising a flywheel, cylinders'mounted in said flywheel, pistons within said cylinders, liquid circulated by the movement of said pistons, a. crankpin, connections from f said crankpin to said pistons, a spider carrying said crankpin, a shaft, said spider rotating at a definite intermediate speed in re`- lation to said, flywheel and said shaft, and means for varyingthe resistance to the cifrculationof said liquid; a

12. A power transmission mechanism, comprising ailywheel, cylinders mounted in said flywheel,A pistons within said cylinders, liquid vcirculated by the movement of said. pistons, a crankpin, connection-s from said crankpinto said pistons, a spider carrying said crankpin, a shaft, gearing connecting. said/spiderto said flywheel and said shaft, and means for varying the resistance to the circulation 'of said liquid.

13. Al power transmission mechanism,

comprising a flywheel, cylinders mountedin said flywheel, pistons within saidcylindeis, i

liquid circulated by the movement of 'said pistons, a gearwheel upon said flywheel, a cranlg 1n, connections from said crankpin to sai istons, a spider carrying said crankpin, a s aft, a gear wheel upon said shaft,

lgearwheels upon said spider meshing with said gearwheels upon said'shaft and said'- ilywheel and means for varying the'resistance to the circulation of said liquid;l

14. A` power transmission. mechanism,l comprising a flywheel, cylinders mounted in said flywheel, pistons within said cylinders, liquid, circulated by the movement of said pistons, anl internal gearwheel upon said flywheel, a` crank in, connections from said crankpin to sai pistons, a spider carrying said crankpin, a shaft', a sun gearwheel upon f meshin said shaft, e 'cyclic pinions upon'said spider meshin wifii said .internal gearwheels-and means or varying theresistance to the circulation of said liquid.

15. A power k-transmission mechanism, comprising-a flywheel, cylinders rnountedin said flywheel, pistons within said cylinders, liquid circulated by the movement of said pistons, a crankpin, connections-from said crankpin to said pistons, a spider carrying said crankpin, a shaft, said spi er rotating at a definiteintermediate speed in relation to said flywheel and shaft, and adjustable cocks resisting the circulation of said liquid.

16.- A power transmission mechanism, comprising `a flywheel, cylinders ymounted in said flywheel, pistons within' said cylinders, liquid circulated. by the movement of `said pistons, a crankpin, connectionsfrom sald crankpinto said pistons, a spider carrying said crankpi'n, a shaft, gearing.' connecting said s iderto said flywheel and said'shaft, and a justable cocks resisting the circulation of said liquid.

17. A` power transmission`V mechanism, comprising a flywheel, cylinders mounted 1n said flywheel, pistons within said cylinders, liquid circulated by the movement of said, pistons, a gearwheel upon` said flywheel, a

'crankpiinlconnections from saidcrankpin to said pistons, a spider carrying said crankpin, a shaft, a gearwheel upon said shaft, gearwheels u `on said spider meshing "with said.

gearwhee Au on said shaft and said/flywheel andadjustab e cocks resistingthe circulation of said liquid.

1 8. A power transmission mechanism, comprising a flywheel, c linders mounted 1n said flywheel, pistons wlthin'jsaid cylinders liquid. circulated by.` the'moyement ofwsai pistons;E anmternal gearwheel-upon said fly? wheel, a crank 1n, connect1ons fromsaidv crankpin fto sai pistons, a spider carrying f` said crankpin a shaft, a sungearwlieel upon said shaft, eriicyclic pinons upon said spider wit said liquid. A

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand in resence of two witnesses.

ILLIAM GEORGE CLIFTON.` Witnesses: v

VICTOR F. FEENY, CYRIL J. FEENY.

said internal. gearwheel ,f and 100 -adjusta le cocks resisting the circulation of 

